Squabbling squad leaves Levein smiling at the heart of it all

CRAIG Levein admits the sound of his Hearts stars squabbling was music to his ears following a frustrating stalemate against Livingston.

The Premiership leaders dropped their first points of the season on Saturday when the stubborn Lions escaped Edinburgh with a 0-0 draw, with Liam Kelly saving a Steven Naismith penalty-kick in the game’s decisive moment.

Hearts manager Levein (left) has revealed that some angry words were exchanged among his players in the Tynecastle dressing room at full-time, who felt the performance had fallen short of the exacting standards that have underpinned their blistering start to the season.

And the veteran coach is adamant he was thrilled to see that passion – and simply left them to the candid post-mortem.

“I opened the door to the changing room and there was a little bit of an altercation going on so I just shut it and left them to it!” smiled Levein. “It is frustration from the players. They put a lot of effort in and that is one thing I can’t be critical of, the amount of effort we have put into every single match.”

The full-time whistle on Saturday was met by jeers from a large portion of the Tynecastle crowd following a frustrating 90 minutes, while Steven Naismith this week urged supporters to get behind the team when games are in the balance.

But Levein was far from surprised by the reaction and reckons it serves to underline “the balls” needed to play for Hearts.